Say what?
According to a S-A story by Derrick DePledge:
Donalyn Dela Cruz, Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s spokeswoman, is writing and producing a new Hawaii travelogue show.
Maybe it’s just me, but I would think that anyone being paid $70,000 in public funds for a high-level position in the governor’s administration would have a very full plate without trying to do moonlight in another essentially full-time job of “writing and producing” a regular television program.
I keep hearing rumblings that the governor’s office is significantly understaffed compared to those of his predecessors. Maybe, but Dela Cruz seems to have enough time on her hands to take on another demanding job.
Then, of course, there are questions of potential conflicts. Hawaiian Airlines, Starwood Hotels, and the Chamber of Commerce were identified among the sponsors of the new program, all with significant issues that rise to the governor’s level. Questions about apparent conflicts would seem to flow naturally from the awkward position Dela Cruz is putting herself in.
And how about Gov. Abercrombie’s latest move, a formal request to members of key boards and commissions to resign in order to let him pack the boards with his own appointees.
This seems like an ill-considered move and a dangerous precedent. Overlapping terms are there precisely to provide continuity, and to prevent wholesale political upheavals every time the administration changes. Had Duke Aiona been elected, I’m sure Neil and his many supporters would rightly be opposing any similar GOP move. Does he really want to open this door for future administrations? I doubt it.
Bottom line: I hope most of those appointees receiving these letters asking for their resignations will file them in the nearest wastebasket. Thanks, but no thanks.
Meanwhile, I’m becoming more worried about what the governor’s “new day” might mean.
From Governor Abercrombie’s web site:
In the coming weeks and months, you will hear of more partnerships and initiatives to move toward the New Day plan—educational excellence, energy independence and a sustainable economy.
My administration is ready and moving; our community partners are ready, and the people of Hawaii are ready to bring positive change. There is no doubt in my mind that, together, Hawai’i is on the way to a New Day.
I think many who voted for the governor expected “community partners” to mean communities themselves being given meaningful roles in determining their own futures. Now many are worried that community organizations, especially progressive ones, are being bypassed as the administration cuts deals with corporate developers and other special interests that the rest of us will not hear about until it’s too late for meaningful community input.
I talked to several activist this week who are deeply frustrated with the administration. One said they had been trying to contact the governor’s office on an issue of mutual concern and public interest, but had not even gotten the courtesy of an acknowledgement of phone messages or emails, much less a place at the table.
Another person expressed fear the administration is slighting its community allies while catering to corporate interests, perhaps driven by budgetary and economic concerns. There’s worry the governor’s desire to move quickly and sweep away bureaucratic impediments to quick action will really mean sacrificing environmental protections along with inclusive planning and decision-making.
Still another said the governor’s staff are very good at communicating his messages to the public, but don’t show the same skill at listening to constituents and communities.
These concerns are growing among those who were strong campaign supporters who cheered Gov. Abercrombie’s election. As one person told me: “People are asking me, ‘WTF is up with Neil?'”
I’m hoping the administration can pull it together and demonstrate that these concerns are misplaced. I just wish I were more confident this will happen.
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The majority voted for Abercrombie, but the next morning it seems that we have woken up with Mufi in our beds.
All the things that voters reacted against in Mufi — the disorganization, the micromanagement, the cramming through of unwanted policies, the personalization of issues, the bullying — is now manifested by Neil.
Voters no longer vote for things. They vote against things. But then they get those things anyway.
That is, one of the ironies of contemporary political life is that people generally don’t have political beliefs and they vote accordingly — but politicians have not figured that out.
In the BBC documentary “The Power of Nightmares”, it is explained that people are afraid of terrorists not because of the threat of violence, since violence is ubiquitous anyway. Rather, what scares people today is the idea that there are people in the world who actually have political beliefs. This is also why the neo-conservative movement of the 2000s scared people. The neo-cons had ideas and beliefs.
That’s what makes Generation X — generally, people born between 1961 and 1981 — the mystery that it is. They have no clear beliefs or identity. That’s also a part of the Obama mystery: deep down there is only this talent and cleverness and showmanship, but no real beliefs or rootedness. (Obama was born in 1961.)
Nowadays, people vote for the least “fanatical” candidate. If a master politician like George W. Bush can successfully portray wealthy, elite Congressmen like Al Gore and John Kerry as lefty fringe subversives, then he can become President despite his own total lack of any proper credentials.
But what is strange is that once elected, someone like George W. Bush will claim that his election constitutes a mandate to push through a sweeping agenda that alienates most voters. In fact, someone like Bush should have known why people voted for him: his appeal was that he would do nothing. (Eisenhower understood this appeal, and that is why he did so many photo ops out on the golf course, as if all was well in the world and he had nothing better to do, even though in reality he was as intense a man as they come, and the world was on the brink.)
What is even weirder is that to a certain extent the agenda that the newly elected executive imposes was not only largely a carefully hidden agenda that the leadership assumes the people knew about (“That’s why they voted for me”, he now thinks), but much of the agenda spontaneously develops after the election. That is, the flush and excitement of the victory actually serve to create much of the agenda that voters were not told about.
So the slogan “A New Day” is, to the voters, just a slogan. They did not vote for any agenda. Rather, in their minds they voted AGAINST some kook who seemed to have a secret sweeping agenda (Gore, Kerry, Hannemann). But once in power, the new guy morphs into something like what they voted against — a kook with an agenda.